Creating an automated high pressure test stand

Hello,

I am working to make our test stands automated instead of manually operated. I want this to be user friendly. I was torn between two possible solutions to control these three components: air pressure regulator, high pressure solenoid valve, and a pressure sensor.

https://kellypneumatics.com/product/high-flow-electronic-pressure-regulator/
https://www.mcmaster.com/1190N24/
https://www.digikey.com/en/products...urement-specialties/M3021-000005-05KPG/125125

I thought about using a raspberry pi with, a relay hat, analog to digital converter, and a touch screen.
-or-
use a laptop with an i/o converter.

the thing is I don't know a ton about either of these but I do know some. I am open to any suggestions.
 
What does your manual test procedure consist of? It helps to know exactly what one is attempting to automate.
What is the purpose of this testing with pressure?
- catastrophic leak detection?
- slow leak detection?
- deviation of some 'sensor' from the applied 'reference' pressure?
What part is not user friendly that needs to be user friendly?
What kind of pressure connections need to be used?
 
What does your manual test procedure consist of? It helps to know exactly what one is attempting to automate.
What is the purpose of this testing with pressure?
- catastrophic leak detection?
- slow leak detection?
- deviation of some 'sensor' from the applied 'reference' pressure?
What part is not user friendly that needs to be user friendly?
What kind of pressure connections need to be used?
Hey there thank you for getting back with me. We hydrostatically test parts for leakage slow and/or rapid. Depending on the part or the test pressures change as does the time for the test. Right now how we have our test stand set up everything is manually operated and has no pressure sensors in the system, just calibrated gauges. We have a few set air regulators that can send different pressures to drive our sprague pump.

This set up has been a problem in the past because parts have been tested at the wrong pressures. I was envisioning to make an app that has the parts grouped together by their test procedure. The user would then select the part they are testing, the test stand would run a systems check before starting, it would fill the part with water, then build pressure and hold it for the set time.
 
Some observations

1. Make sure your ranges match. The I/P regulator that maxes out at 100 PSIG, the sensor a similar range.

2. The Cv on the solenoid valve is pretty low: 0.01, which is not a lot of flow.

3. The solenoid is direct acting, which you'll probably need, as opposed to a pilot operated solenoid valve because pilot operated solenoid valves usually require a minimum pressure differential, which the system is not likely to have when the air supply feeds a deadheaded system.

4. Overall, I think you'll need a HMI panel and a PLC to create recipes for the various product tests and to covert the pressure setpoints to 4-20mA to drive the regulator, read the pressure sensor and make whatever decision needs to be made.

5. >a problem in the past because parts have been tested at the wrong pressures.
An automated test would still involve the 'selection' of a procedure or setpoint or whatever. Automation can provide a recipe of variables through selection, but without input (or feedback), like RFID or bar code scans, cannot confirm that the selection is correct.

6. I've never looked, but there might be commercial pressure test stands available.
 
Also consider this SCADA software: SpecView.
Combine it with a few modbus TCP (ethernet) digital/analog IO modules and you are good to go.
Here are very rugged and reliable modules that I use a lot: https://cascade.net/en/modular-plcs/
And SpecView is very easy to program, it is specially developed for technicians that don't have a lot of programming experience.
See: https://cascade.net/en/scadasoftware/
With specview you have the communication with the IO modules up and running in minutes.
And good thing is that you get direct support of the guy that developed the software. It also supports barcode scanners, so you set the test conditions right with scanning.
 
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